Saturday, May 29, 2010

FOs galore

I'm a little behind in posting a few FOs. Driving the cats around sure does suck up a lot of my time.

First up is a scarf that took me two years to make. No, I'm not that slow of a crocheter. Since I only work 2 Saturdays a month at the LYS, those are the only days that I work on it. Take into account that Saturdays are usually busy and that means that I don't actually get much crochet time.


Pattern: The Wavelength by Lime & Violet
Yarn: 1 skein Noro Kureyon Sock in col S195 (I think); used all but a few yards
Hook: 3.5mm
Notes: I learned how to make a stretchy foundation - the foundation single crochet (other variations also exist). It is seriously awesome. Go ahead and Google it - I'll wait while take a look. There was a bit of nail biting near the end. You have to finish the scarf on Row 4. If you don't have enough yarn, you have to rip it back to your previous Row 4. Since the scarf is crocheted lengthwise, that's a lot to rip.

I've been teaching a top-down raglan class at my LYS. I decided to knit the sweater along with the students because I was expecting a new niece (she arrived last Monday).


Pattern: Buttons Cardigan by Cabin Fever
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece; 2 skeins in Cotton Ball
Needles: 3.75mm Addi Turbo circs

Today was the last day of the class so I took a picture of all our sweaters together:


Don't they all look pretty?


Ricky sez, "Rawr!!!! The roofers should be scared of me and my big fangs!"

Thursday, May 27, 2010

scaredy cats

I have a pair of scaredy cats on my hands. The roofers started work on Tues which promptly sent both cats hiding under furniture. The first thump actually interrupted Ricky's breakfast and kibble was flying out of his mouth as he ran for cover. I didn't have any warning that they were starting work so I had to scramble to catch them and drive them over to my Dad's.

Even at Dad's place, Ricky is unsure and spends most of his time hiding under the sofa. But he'll eat if I put kibble down.


Phoebe instantly made herself at home.


She's either lounging on the floor in the sunshine or watching the birdies from the armchair. Phoebe's checked every nook and cranny. When she came out from behind the sofa, her face & whiskers were covered in cobwebs. Guess I don't have to vacuum back there.

All these days at Dad's means that I have a lot of knitting time. I've got my entire collection of BBC's Poirot mysteries, a ton of yarn, and a drop spindle & some fiber. I am busy churning out tons of stockinette & trying to spin BFL. I did a lot of quilting on the birdie quilt but I've put it aside to give my arm a break. Many years ago, I gave myself tennis elbow by over-quilting. It took a lot of physical therapy for the pain to go away so I have to be careful.


Ricky sez, "What was that noise? It's out to get me, isn't it?"

Ride2Survive

It's Tony here, guest-blogging to get you updated on the Ride2Survive.

My wife has knit me many pairs of socks and most of them are at the top of the duty cycle...first-out-of-the-laundry-first-back-in if you know what I mean. I have even started wearing some of my favourite socks on my training rides and judging by the comments I get, other riders like them too. My need to have something my wife made for me could be a sign I'm spending too much time training and not enough time with my family; I have certainly been on the bike a fair bit recently, and as I did last year, I want to thank her for her support.

Thanking her publicly at a training ride is like preaching to the choir, so I'll take this opportunity to thank her in front of her friends. I do also want to say a huge thank you to you, the now legendary (at R2S) knitting community. The R2S contact at the Canadian Cancer Society knows me as the "guy whose wife knits".

Last Sunday was one of our two really big training rides. It was planned out as about 11,000 feet of climbing over 185km (about 110 miles). No, I don't know why we measure distance in km and climbing in feet...for those of you in the Vancouver area, the route went from the Alex Fraser over SFU, out to Deep cove and up and down the North shore and up Cypress Bowl (the snowless wonder of Olympics fame) before heading back to the start point.

The forecast was for cloudy with sunny periods and a high temperature of 15 degrees (60F). What we actually got was rain, heavy at times with periods of hail and a high of about 10 degrees (50F). We had two riders who were borderline hypothermic before we even got to the big climb, and with the rain and cold, brakes were a problem on the hills. Fortunately, we had no crashes, but we had to abandon the big climb.

It wasn't safe to ride down a 13km/7 mile hill at 7% grade hitting speeds of 70kph/45mph in a driving rain storm with possible snow at the summit. I returned home to sunny Delta (the forecast was accurate out here) after 155km and 6000' of climbing and felt moved to take a photo of my legs before heading for a long thaw in the bath.

I don't normally take baths, but on this day I made an exception. By the way, I'm not wearing socks...that's how dirty my shins got riding in the "cloudy with sunny periods". I'm just thankful I was wearing regular cycling socks and not a Wenat creation. Otherwise, I'd have some 'splainin' to do.

This past month, Ride2Survive passed $1,000,000 raised over it's 6 years, and this year's total is now over $135,000 and rising quickly. All donations go directly to fund research, and we are making a difference. Thanks to donors like yourselves, supporters and well-wishers too and a tireless group of volunteers who work to get the riders to the destination.

Tony

Monday, May 24, 2010

Stitch Markers donated!

I have a few more pretty photos to share with you.

I received a lovely message yesterday from Sunne, who has an etsy store full of fun stitch markers which will liven up your knitting. (Click on the photos to go directly to that listing on her store -- she has 135 listed right now.)

And she's donating two $10 gift certificates to her store to two raffle winners, to choose what they like. She has a ton of fun ones in her store -- I've just posted the ones that tickled me, but it was hard to choose just these few to share with you.

(Even though I don't watch hockey regularly, these ones make me laugh! If you knit while watching hockey, you'll probably have to have these!)

Thank you for your donation, Sunne!

quilt auction

Here it is - my 2010 Ride2Survive auction quilt, titled "How Tweet It Is":


(click image for a bigger view)
This quilt measures 56" x 56". The birdies are fused and machine appliqued. The blocks are machine pieced. It is made with 100% cotton fabric and the batting is 80% cotton/20% polyester. It is hand quilted with cotton thread. It is machine washable and dryable.

This charming quilt is perfect as a sofa throw or for a toddler bed. I will also gladly attach a hanging sleeve should the winner choose to display it on a wall.

The auction will be held on this blog. Place bids by leaving a comment on this post with your bid amount and some way of contacting you (i.e. email address). The auction will run til midnight PST June 19th (the day of the ride). We are happy to ship the quilt anywhere in the world so don't hesitate to bid. The highest bidder will win the quilt and make their donation directly to the Canadian Cancer Society (via credit card or cheque) and I will mail the quilt to them when it is completed.

The bidding starts at $50. Good luck!!!

The husbands, Gladys, and myself thank you for your support and donation.

PS. For those who are interested, the pattern is called Birdie Big Blocks by Barbara Brandeburg.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

playing tourist

For the last 10 days, we've had hubby's second cousin, Julian staying with us. He's from Germany and was on a student exchange program. Once the term was over, he decided to do a little travelling before returning home. Julian spent a few days on Vancouver Island and the rest of the time with us.

I drove Julian out to Stanley Park where we stopped at Prospect Point for a little lunch. A brazen raccoon came out and begged for food. It was sad to see people feeding him. I carefully guarded my french fries and was ready to scare him off with my purse. After lunch, we stopped at the Hollow Tree. When we first drove into the park, Julian exclaimed over the size of our trees. I told him those were puny compared to others inside the park.


I made him stand in it so that you can see how big the Hollow Tree really is. For scale, Julian's about 6 ft tall.

Another attraction are the beaches. Here he is at Third Beach with North Vancouver in the distance and Siwash Rock on his left (my right).


Unfortunately, the weather didn't want to co-operate. It was pretty stormy and rainy at times. He got caught downtown one day without an umbrella and got soaked. So we piled into the car on a rainy day and drove up to Squamish. Along the way, we stopped at Shannon Falls.


Apparently, the part of Germany where he lives is pretty flat so this sort of thing is unusual to him. In Squamish, we stopped at the base of the Chief (a huge hunk of rock that is popular with the rock climbers in the summer) and I drove him down the 5 blocks of the city center. It was pretty cold so we stopped at Tim Hortons for coffee (for him) and sugar (donut for me). On our way back, we stopped in Porteau Cove which is a popular diving spot for locals.

On the crafty side of things, I've started quilting both Ride2Survive quilts. And I also finished a crocheted scarf that I started almost 2 years ago as a store sample. Now that the guest bed is free, I can wash & block it.

There's still time (10 hours to be exact) to bid on Gladys' True Love stole. And if you print a copy of the pattern, please consider making a donation. And keep your eyes on this blog - I'll be posting the auction quilt tomorrow.

Friday, May 21, 2010

True Love pooling stole pattern

You've already seen the auction for this stole -- now here's the pattern! (And there are still two more days to bid on it!)

Note: If you're new to the pooling technique, please read the first pattern in this series to get a good idea of how to figure out where your yarn will pool. Also, check out this thread on Ravelry, where people are sharing their pooling projects and tips.

This pattern is a little different from my previous ones because I did a little bit of needle juggling to get the candleflame edging to work out properly. There's also going to be a kitchener join, while pooling. (If you know how to do the Kitchener stitch, it's just a wee bit fussier than the sewn bindoff.) You'll be able to tackle this pattern if you've done previous pooling projects and know what your gauge is and which needles you'll need to get gauge.

Using an "e" or backwards loop cast-on, cast on 87 stitches onto a US7 needle. Please see my previous posts about figuring out your own "magic number" to cast on, depending on your tension on the needles you've chosen.

Knit one row. (Note: this line was added on May 23, 2010.)

Start working with the candleflame edging chart below. (Note: There are no garter rows on this pattern as the first few rows are in "reversed" garter.) Click on the chart to get a larger version, or download the edging chart PDF.

The stitches in yellow are the edges and the stitches in white are the centre repeat of the candleflames. Follow the yellow stitches, then do five repeats of the candleflames (in white), then the final yellow stitches.

If you need to add more stitches to keep the colours pooled, add garter edge stitches to each edge. If you need to subtract stitches to maintain colour pooling, try going down a needle size. I had to go down a needle size (to a US6) for the 87 stitches in the edging.

Row 30 (back): K2, purl to last two stitches, K2
Row 31 (front): Knit all stitches
Row 32 (back): Knit all stitches (will be a row of purls on front of work)
Row 33 (front): Knit all stitches
Row 34 (back): Knit all stitches, decreasing 4 stitches evenly across the row (K2tog every 15 stitches works well), to 83 stitches total. If you went to a size smaller needle for the edging, try going up one needle size for the body chart.

After Row 34, start with row 1 of the body chart below. Click on the chart to get a larger version, or download the body chart PDF. (The purple squares are only colour-coded to show you the "flow" of the pattern; you will purl or knit them as indicated.)

Do the first 16 stitches (this is the right ripple edging). Repeat the 13 stitches in blue 4 times (these are the flames/ribbons in the middle), then continue to the 16 stitches of the left ripple edging.

For my Wollmeise 100% merino yarn, there were 18 repeats of this chart. If you're using the same yarn, you may want to stop at row 11 of your 17th repeat until the next step is done. (I only had about 3 yards of yarn left over; it was a bit of a squeaky finish.)

Now, here comes the tricky part.

Knit another edging piece. I cast on from the other end of my working ball of yarn and used another set of needles.

After you've knit your second edging:

Row 30 (back): K2, purl to last two stitches, K2
Row 31 (front): Knit all stitches
Row 32 (back): Knit all stitches, decreasing 3 stitches evenly across the row (K2tog every 20 stitches works well), to 84 stitches total. (This will be a purl row across the front of the work.)

When you've finished knitting the second candleflame edging, take a look at your working ball of yarn.

If you think you have enough yarn to do an 18th repeat of the body chart, go for it. For your final repeat of the body chart, end with a row 11.

Knit one row (will be a row of purls on the front of the work).

Now you'll put the two pieces together and join them with a Kitchener stitch, while maintaining the pooling colours. (Knitty Kitchener tutorial here, and video demonstrations here.) This kitchenered row will become the knit row between the purl rows.

Block and pin out the stole. Wear with pride because you've deciphered my pattern.


Pattern notes:
I designed this pattern and knit this stole to fundraise for the Canadian Cancer Society. I wanted to create something that evokes strength, beauty and the power of each of our lives.

The candleflames at the ends of the stole serve as symbols of individual lives, and the woven lace motif in the body of the stole speaks to how all of our lives are braided together. There’s a ripple-like lace at the edges, which speaks to me of how all of our lives can have ripple effects well beyond our immediate experience.

The body of the stole reminds me of smoke from the candle flames, and also contains hearts in it -- an unintentional creation, but completely appropriate to the True Love colourway.

If you like it, I'd ask you to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society or, once our husbands' fundraiser is over in a few weeks, to your local cancer charity.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Raffle prizes galore!

I'm delighted to add four more prizes to the raffle prize pool tonight!

Hilary sent me two skeins of Dream in Color Smooshy -- these will be two separate prizes.

The first one is in GoGo Grassy.
And the second one is in Ruby River.

Thanks, Hilary, for your donations, and for the amazing shout-out you wrote on your blog! It made me cry, in a good way. ;-)

And Angela from San Francisco has donated two additional skeins.

The first is Kauni Wool Effektgarn in the EQ/Rainbow colourway. (Thanks to Tammy for the lovely yarn photo!)

And her last, but by no means least, donation is one skein of Wollmeise 80/20 Twin sock yarn in Pferfferminz Prinz (translates to "Peppermint Prince").

As a sidenote: I "met" Angela for the first time about two years ago. I was finishing up my Icarus, and I'd run out of yarn about two rows from the bindoff. I whined about my predicament somewhere on Ravelry, and she offered to send me enough to finish my project. I ended up not needing to take her up on it because Tony picked up the last skein of my colour in the city for me (yes I called every yarn store in town), at a yarn store by his office. But I was so touched by her generosity at the time -- and here she is again, with even more yarny goodness!

*Smooches* and hugs to both of you!

Monday, May 17, 2010

True Love Stole (and auction)


I've finished another pooling stole!

This one's made from Wollmeise yarn again, in the True Love colourway.

I knew that I wanted to design a stole that would benefit the Canadian Cancer Society, and I wanted to create something that evokes strength, beauty and the power of each of our lives.

The candleflames at the ends of the stole serve as symbols of individual lives, and the woven lace motif in the body of the stole speaks to how all of our lives are braided together. There’s a ripple-like lace at the edges, which speaks to me of how all of our lives can have ripple effects well beyond our immediate experience.

The body of the stole reminds me of smoke from the candle flames, and also contains hearts in it -- an unintentional creation, but completely appropriate to the True Love colourway.

The difference between this one and all my previous pooling stoles: This one could belong to you!

I'm going to auction it off on this blog, and the highest bidder will get it. Leave your bid in the comments, so everyone can see what amount they need to beat. (If two people bid the same amount, we'll go by the timestamps to see who the earlier bidder is.)

We'll close the auction next Sunday, May 23, at 8 pm (Vancouver time) and announce the winning bidder.

If you're the winning bidder, you'll donate your final bid amount to Team Purl Jam at the Canadian Cancer Society's website, and send me your mailing address. And then I'll pop this one-of-a-kind creation in the mail to you, along with a few surprise treats! Oh yeah, and you will get a Canadian charitable contribution tax receipt from the Canadian Cancer Society.

Also, the pattern for this stole will be coming in the next couple of days. It’s a tricky one, and involves juggling a few sizes of needles, plus knitting the two ends and a kitchener stitch join while maintaining the pooling colours. It's definitely for intermediate to advanced knitters.

Finally, the True Love colourway is relatively difficult to get at the moment, because it was only sold to Wollmeise sock club members. (It should be coming up in her online store in the next month or so as she's selling sock club colourways about a year after they debuted, and this one came out at the end of May, 2009.)

If you want a chance to win a skein of the True Love sock club yarn, I also have it up in our raffle. See the sidebar for all the awesome prizes you could win -- and I have more yarn donations coming in the next couple of days!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

snip snip tweet tweet

There's one month and 4 days til the big ride and I'm busy working on both the raffle quilt and the auction quilt. The raffle quilt is basted and is waiting for me to machine quilt. But before I can machine quilt, I need to finish the applique stitching on the birdie blocks because I don't want to fiddle with the setting on my sewing machine.

The blocks are done and I got to cut out the background fabric with some fancy scissors that I borrowed from a friend.


Here's an after picture:


Those scissors work like a charm. I don't have to worry about accidentally cutting the foreground fabric.

After finishing the other socks, I felt like casting on a new pair right away. Such pretty yarn!!!! Wish I'd bought more of it when it was locally available.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

And more prizes!

Regular blog readers may remember Michelle from San Diego, who came for a whirlwind visit of Vancouver and then met Dotty and me for dinner. (No, the three of us aren't related!)

Well, the news is that she emailed me to donate a few more prizes to the raffle ...

Two skeins of Malabrigo Laceweight yarn in the Blue Surf colourway.

Two skeins of green Himalaya Yarn Tibet Wool/Silk (300 yards, bulky yarn).

And a skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight in Dixie Chick!

Wow -- thank you so much, Michelle! This is so generous of you -- and I totally hope to see you again at Sock Summit next year. I'll bring the wine. ;-)

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Ride2Survive Raffle -- more prizes!

Let me tell you about my friend Ro, who lives in Georgia. I met her a few years ago in a swap group on Ravelry, and she's one of the nicest people I've never met in person. She's witty, fun and raunchy, and she's incredibly generous, too.

Want some proof of her generosity?

She's donated three more gorgeous prizes to our raffle to help our husbands fundraise for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Two skeins of Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop -- handspun yarn, in the colourway Spirit in the Sky.

A skein of Fiberphile Hand-dyed Merino/Cashmere/Nylon yarn in the colourway Willow 1.

One Anne Hanson Bee Fields shawl kit (link goes to the Knitspot website where you can see a finished shawl) which includes the pattern and a skein of Wooly Wonka Fibers Merino Laceweight yarn, in the colourway Tupelo Gold. Ro describes it as "a very soft, light green, semisolid, 2 ply laceweight merino."

Thank you so much, Ro -- these are gorgeous additions to the prize pool!

These will go into the raffle draw that we announced earlier this week. It's just $5 for an entry, and don't forget, if you donate $25, you also get entered to win quilts and hand-knit socks.

And if you'd like to help us out, please do spread the word about this raffle!

number 48


Pattern: No Purl Monkeys by CraftyPancakes
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Stile; col 8002; 1 skein (100g; 459 yds) with very little leftover
Needles: 2.5mm dpns
Notes: I seriously thought I would run out of yarn. Kinda surprising because these aren't very big. I loved the colour in the skein but I'm pretty meh about it knitted up. These socks are going into the Christmas gift pile.

On Saturday, I drove out to Langley with some friends to see a quilt show. There were two car loads - the slowpokes (they got kicked out of a quilt show because it was closing and they'd been there all day!) in one car and the speedier ones in another. I made a beeline for the vendors. Most shows, I look at the quilts first and then head to the vendors which I've discovered to be a poor plan because all the good stuff is sold out by the time I get there.


I got the very last Sweet William pattern and scooped up a huge stack of FQs - these pretty Japanese reds & assorted Japanese taupes. I also bought some cute potholders (currently MIA for this photo shoot) and when I showed them off during our coffee break (where we met up with the slowpokes), Nancy wanted a set for herself. But by the time she got to the boutique, they were sold out. The show was great - lots of inspiration. I will sort through my pics and post a few when I have time.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Ride2Survive Raffle - Part 2

Thank you, Gladys for getting the raffle started. I know everyone is chomping at the bit to win some lovely Wollmeise (the True Love is TDF!!!). So I'll offer some non-knitter prizes to the muggles (aka people who don't knit or quilt).

Prize #1:


A pair of hand knit socks. Last year, the winner let me surprise her and these orange socks were her prize. If you win, you get to tell me what you like and I'll custom knit a pair for you or for someone else if you wish.

Prize #2:


This quilt has been generously donated by my friend, Iris. It measures 62" x 78"and is the perfect size to snuggle under on a cold night.

Prize #3:


A quilt made by moi. It measures 59" x 68". This is a work in progress so ignore the safety pins.

Here's how to enter:

Every $25 that you donate to Team Purl Jam gets you one entry (credit cards are accepted). Make sure you include an email address so that we can reach you if you're a winner. To be eligible, make your donation before midnight PDT Sat June 19th (the day of the ride). As an added bonus, your donation also qualifies for Gladys' yarn raffle (you must donate before June 6th).

Don't forget - every penny that you donate funds Canadian Cancer Society research projects. None of the money is used for administration costs. All rider support is donated by the riders themselves, local businesses, and individuals. Tax receipts will be issued for donations greater than $25. If you do not wish to donate via credit card, contact me (yarnfloozy AT gmail DOT com) to make alternate arrangements.

Once Markus recovers, he'll do a random draw on June 20th for the three prizes.

To find out more about Ride2Survive, check out their homepage and read about Tony's ride last year.

Good luck and keep your eyes peeled - I will be auctioning off a very sweet tweety quilt on this blog.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Ride2Survive Raffle!

Cancer has struck all of us in some way. This year, two of my colleagues are battling the disease, and I've been thinking of them and admiring their strength, courage and amazing good cheer.

Both of our husbands are doing the Ride2Survive cancer research fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society this year, cycling almost 400 km (240 miles) in one day. Oh yeah, and there are two mountain summits in that ride. (Tony did it last year -- here's his first description of his ride, and then there's a longer followup post after he recovered.)

So Dotty and I are doing a few yarn-and-quilting-related fundraising activities on this blog to support our husbands.

I'm launching the raffle first. But wait til you see the quilts that Dotty's making -- WOW!

The prizes are:

A skein of Wollmeise 100% Merino in the True Love sock club colourway. (I haven't even taken it out of the wrapping so that the winner will get it in the original condition.)

I'm also knitting up a new pooling stole in this colourway, and will be auctioning off the stole here on the blog -- watch this space for a post (and of course, a new free pattern) in a few days, if I can get a few more hours of knitting time done on it!


A skein of Wollmeise 100% Merino in the Taube colourway. This is one of her semisolids, a gorgeous purpley-blue blend.

A skein of Socks that Rock lightweight in the Saratoga colourway.

Two balls of Regia Kaffe Fassett Design Line, in a pretty self-striping spring flowers colourway.


A Louet Hand Dyeing kit in blues (box was opened just to take this photo).

A skein of Dream in Colour Baby laceweight yarn in the Cool Fire colourway.

Two skeins of Artyarns Supermerino in greens and blues.


In addition to my yarny prizes, Dotty has donated two project bags: knitting chickens and Vancouver Olympics. (If you look closely at one of the background images on the Olympics bag, you can see my office building.)


And finally, in honour of the Olympics which happened in our town in February, two pairs of red mittens, size L (fits most adults) and a water bottle.

Whew!

Now that I've gotten your attention, here are the details.

Every $5 CDN donation gets you an entry, and here's where to enter -- Team Purl Jam's Ride2Survive donations page. Yes, they take credit cards.

Tony will get an email from the Canadian Cancer Society's donation page (it's called "kintera.org") when you donate, and record your entry into his spreadsheet. Just make sure that you type in your correct email address into the form so that we'll be able to get in touch with you if you're a winner.

If you're Canadian, you'll automatically get a tax receipt for any donation of $25 CDN or more. (Actually, every donation over $25 gets a receipt -- I'm just not sure if non-Canadians can use the receipt for their income taxes.) One final detail: All riders and organizers are volunteers, and all costs for this are donated. This means that 100% of your donation will go to the Canadian Cancer Society for cancer research -- even the percentage that credit card companies charge the Canadian Cancer Society does not touch your donation.

This raffle will run from today, Saturday, May 8 to Sunday, June 6 at noon (Vancouver timezone). That will hopefully give you lots of time to decide to enter. To keep the odds of winning high, I'll also add more yarn to the raffle if there are lots of entries. (If you'd like to donate some additional prizes, contact me at gladyswe@gmail.com or send me a message on ravelry -- id=wenat -- and we'll talk!)

On June 6, we'll do a random draw and the first person drawn will get first choice from all the prizes, then the second person will get second choice, and so on. Get your name in often, and you might even get more than one prize!

One final request. There's a tradition on the race that riders write the names of those touched by cancer on their legs. When the going gets tough, especially on the mountain passes, they look at the names and get inspired to keep going for those people. If you have a name you'd like written on Tony's or Markus' legs, please enter that name in the "company name" field on the donation form. If we knitters and fibre fanatics manage to fill both their legs with names, they'll share those names with others on the Ride to Survive team, so all the names will be on the ride. (Markus says he has plenty of acreage on his legs; I think that's a challenge!)


For more background information, here's the story of how this ride started, and here's a video they made last year about the journey the riders make. They say that the most amazing part of the ride is when they go past people holding up photos of loved ones affected by cancer. If you'd like to share your stories in the comments, I'll make sure they get to the Ride to Survive organizers.